1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication device to be connected with a manufacturing apparatus and a method for controlling a communication device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transportation vehicles such as overhead traveling vehicles have conventionally been used for loading and transporting pods (e.g., front opening unified pods (FOUPs)) housing a wafer on and to a loading port of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, for example. The main body of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is controlled by a manufacturing controller. The overhead traveling vehicle is, on the other hand, controlled by a transportation controller. The E84 standard of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) applies to communication between the loading port and the overhead traveling vehicle, (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-184760 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-018737).
With such a system, the manufacturing controller instructs the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus to perform processing on a certain pod based on a manufacturing schedule. To correspond to the processing based on the manufacturing schedule, the transportation controller generates a transportation schedule and sends a transportation instruction to the overhead traveling vehicle.
With such a system as described above, when the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus makes a request for a change in the manufacturing schedule, the manufacturing controller changes the manufacturing schedule based on the change request. The manufacturing controller then transmits the change to the transportation controller. The transportation controller issues an instruction to the overhead traveling vehicle to carry in a pod based on the changed manufacturing schedule.
Thus, an instruction from the manufacturing controller located upstream on the manufacturing side is received by the transportation controller located upstream on the transportation side in order to control the overhead traveling vehicle.
As described above, when the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus or the like has a change to the manufacturing schedule, it takes time for the change to take effect because the change in the schedule is first transmitted to the manufacturing controller located upstream of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and then the manufacturing controller transmits the change in the schedule to the transportation controller which then issues a transportation instruction to the overhead traveling vehicle. Consequently, if the overhead traveling vehicle has already started traveling, the transportation route of the overhead traveling vehicle may not be changed efficiently, which results in a problem of making the transportation and manufacturing less efficient.